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Onward develops bold and practical ideas for the next generation of centre right thinkers and leaders

REPORT
Rocket Science: How can the UK become a science superpower?

If the UK is to be a “science superpower”, we need to rethink our strategy for science.

REPORT
What do voters think of grammar schools?

What do British voters - and Conservative voters in particular - think of proposals to build more grammar schools and expand academic selection?

REPORT
The Conservative politics of net zero

Vote Blue, Stay Green

Sep 14
15:15-
16:15
EVENT

Help wanted

How best to get people back to work?
Jul 18
11:00-
12:15
EVENT

Securing the Future

Future Energy Scenarios 2022: How can we enable a future energy system that is secure, clean, affordable and fair?
Jul 6
15:00-
16:15
EVENT

Right to Let

A private roundtable with Eddie Hughes MP
with:
Recent press
Charities underpin the UK’s social safety net as cost of living crisis bites
The Tories risk forgetting a rich tradition of economic thinking
How can politicians win back voters who have become disillusioned with parliamentary democracy?
We will resign ourselves to geopolitical irrelevancy unless we re-invest in science
We will resign ourselves to geopolitical irrelevancy unless we re-invest in science
New prime minister must up R&D funding or risk ushering in ‘low skilled’ economy
REPORT
Rocket Science: How can the UK become a science superpower?

If the UK is to be a “science superpower”, we need to rethink our strategy for science.

REPORT
What do voters think of grammar schools?

What do British voters - and Conservative voters in particular - think of proposals to build more grammar schools and expand academic selection?

REPORT
The Conservative politics of net zero

Vote Blue, Stay Green

Sep 14
15:15-
16:15
EVENT

Help wanted

How best to get people back to work?
Jul 18
11:00-
12:15
EVENT

Securing the Future

Future Energy Scenarios 2022: How can we enable a future energy system that is secure, clean, affordable and fair?
Jun 29
18:00-
20:30
EVENT

Onward After Hours: Andrew Bowie MP

Event Full
Onward After Hours
An Onward drink reception with Andrew Bowie MP
with:

Onward develops bold and practical ideas for the next generation of centre right thinkers and leaders

Our mission​

Onward is a modernising think tank whose mission is to develop bold and practical ideas to boost economic opportunity and strengthen communities in all parts of the United Kingdom.

We are not affiliated to any party but believe in a mainstream conservatism. We recognise the value of markets and support the good that government can do, and believe that a strong society is the foundation of both. We want to seize the opportunities of the future while preserving the accumulated knowledge of the past. We believe that most people are hard working, aspirational and decent, but that many do not have the opportunities to fulfil their potential.

Our goal is to address the needs of the whole country: young as well as old; urban as well as rural; in all parts of the UK – particularly places that feel neglected or ignored in Westminster – by working with ordinary people directly and developing practical policies that work.

"Into the arena, Onward stepped. The in-flight refueller. The next modernising thinktank. The engine which ensured that just as the process of government might be wearing thin, the Conservative Party was able to renew and refurbish its message, its personnel, its appeal and its coalition.”
Rt Hon Michael Gove MP
Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
“Thinktanks are expected to think the unthinkable but I don’t want us to think the unworkable. We have to think things that work politically, that is that pay some attention to whether people support them, where the costs fall and whether they work in practice."
Lord Finkelstein
Chairman of Onward and Member of the House of Lords
"There was a space on the centre right that we all knew existed but couldn't quite size, couldn't quite articulate. And then Onward came along and spoke to us about a change in politics that had been happening right under our noses. Some truths hidden in plain sight. Onward has always let the quality of its work sound the loudest. And we have all heard it."
Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP
Chancellor of the Exchequer
“The question is how we forge an open-feeling, forward-looking conservatism that speaks equally to all. And I believe Onward is exactly what we need.”
Baroness Davidson
Former Leader of the Scottish Conservatives and Member of the House of Lords
"The work of Onward has already, in the last three years, has been fantastic. I have followed it closely, I have pinched a whole bunch of your ideas, but I want to pinch some more ... I need the ideas and I know Onward has the energy to provide them."
Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
"One thing that struck us that was informed by the work of Onward was that to make success of levelling up we need to build the economic foundations - the good jobs and businesses that tie up productivity and innovation. But as importantly, we need also to build those social foundations, buttressing and replenishing social capital and rebuilding social infrastructure...That’s why we had quite an expansive set of medium-term missions in the White Paper spanning both economic and social missions."
Andy Haldane
Permanent Secretary for Levelling Up at the Cabinet Office
"I admire what you are doing here and we need more of it. Because what you are doing is leading an effort to rethink the meaning of conservatism and you are doing it in a way that is inviting social democrats to rethink their mission too. I think this is desperately needed."
Professor Michael Sandel
Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government Theory at Harvard University Law School

Our Work

Our work is focused on the most pressing issues facing the United Kingdom today. Our five programmes are:

Levelling Up

Reducing economic disparities between places

Social Fabric

Repairing the ties that bind communities together

Getting to Zero

Practical and popular ways to decarbonise the economy

Future Politics

Understanding our changing political settlement

Science Superpower

A practical policy programme to transform science and innovation in the UK

Press

Our work is regularly featured in print, broadcast and online media, including through op-eds and broadcast interviews from the Onward team.

CityAM

We will resign ourselves to geopolitical irrelevancy unless we re-invest in science

Matt Burnett, Onward's Head of Science and Technology and lead author of new report 'Rocket Science', wrote an op-ed for City AM on the report's findings.

CityAM

We will resign ourselves to geopolitical irrelevancy unless we re-invest in science

Matt Burnett, Onward's Head of Science and Technology and lead author of new report 'Rocket Science', wrote an op-ed for City AM about the report's findings.

CityAM

New prime minister must up R&D funding or risk ushering in ‘low skilled’ economy

The findings from our new report 'Rocket Science' on how the UK can become a science superpower were discussed by City AM.

The Yorkshire Post

No use pretending North Yorkshire’s new devolution deal is perfect – Adam Hawksbee

Deputy Director Adam Hawksbee writes for The Yorkshire Post on North Yorkshire and York's new £540 million devolution deal.

Prospect Magazine

If the Tories neglect cities it will make everyone poorer

Deputy Director Adam Hawksbee wrote for Prospect on the Conservative Party’s challenge connecting with city-dwelling voters.

Prospect Magazine

If the Tories neglect cities it will make everyone poorer

Deputy Director Adam Hawksbee wrote for Prospect on the Conservative Party’s challenge connecting with city-dwelling voters.

CityAM

We will resign ourselves to geopolitical irrelevancy unless we re-invest in science

Matt Burnett, Onward's Head of Science and Technology and lead author of new report 'Rocket Science', wrote an op-ed for City AM on the report's findings.

CityAM

We will resign ourselves to geopolitical irrelevancy unless we re-invest in science

Matt Burnett, Onward's Head of Science and Technology and lead author of new report 'Rocket Science', wrote an op-ed for City AM about the report's findings.

CityAM

New prime minister must up R&D funding or risk ushering in ‘low skilled’ economy

The findings from our new report 'Rocket Science' on how the UK can become a science superpower were discussed by City AM.

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